Coca-Cola is loved by people all across the world due to its unique taste. A new speech from Congress president Rahul Gandhi has created a buzz in the online world. He can be easily heard saying that the founder of McDonald’s was a ‘dhaba wala,’ and that the founder of Coca-Cola was a ‘shikanji waala’. He wanted to convey that hard work in India doesn’t pay off because the government only supports rich people.
LIVE: Congress President @RahulGandhi addresses the #OBCSammelan https://t.co/nakYv0xBEj
— Congress (@INCIndia) June 11, 2018
We tried researching who the founder of Coca-Cola was and what he did before selling soft drinks. Doctor Pemberton, the founder of Coca-Cola, can be considered a lemonade vendor. The pharmacist invented his famous version of a beverage not because of expertise at “mixing sugar in water but for his need to cure a morphine drug addiction.
During the American Civil War, Pemberton served in the Third Cavalry Battalion of the Georgia State Guard. He got wounded in the chest during the war and became dependent on pain-killers like morphine that contained opium. He invented painkillers without opium which led him to make coca and coca wines, which further led him to invent wine coca syrup. It was advertised as a painkiller, an anti-depressant, and aphrodisiac, and gained considerable popularity.
As soda-based cold drinks gained popularity in the 1880s, and consumption of alcohol went down, Pemberton decided to mix the coca syrup with carbonated water and sold it in the market.
Later he patented the formula and sold his rights to the drink shortly before his death. Pemberton died in August 1888 and a man named Asa Griggs Candler continued the business. In 1891, he became the sole owner of Coca-Cola.
Candler tried some innovative marketing techniques and hired traveling salesmen to give coupons for a free Coke. He wanted people to try the drink, like it, and buy it later on. Also, to spread the word of Coca-Cola he pasted logos on calendars, posters, notebooks, and bookmarks to reach customers. This made Coca-Cola a national brand and since then Coca-Cola has grown into the most selling beverage brand in the world.
